Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the department was looking to improve compensation for TSA staff and would work with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) “to reach a new collective agreement.” Workers will also have access to the Commission for the Protection of Merit Systems. The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that airport front-line controllers will be granted expanded collective bargaining rights. The U.S. Federal of Government Employees represents TSA controllers, who currently have some bargaining rights, but all those granted to most federal authorities. Parliament notes that transportation safety officers (TSOs) have been denied the full right to collective bargaining and are also subject to a compensation and benefits system that does not follow the government`s primary compensation system for federal employees and does not receive regular wage increases. He called on the TSA to “come to the table immediately to reach a fair agreement, and we call on Congress to finally codify the bargaining rights of these workers into law by passing the TSA Labor Rights Act.” “TSA staff are exceptional public servants working on the front lines, even throughout the pandemic, to ensure the safety of the American public on the go,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “They deserve stronger collective bargaining and a compensation structure that recognizes and rewards them for their contribution to our security.” The TSA and AFGE will negotiate a new collective agreement, according to the announcement of the changes by DHS. The agency says the expanded union rights will be similar to those granted to other agencies “while maintaining the TSA`s ability to fulfill its essential security mission.” Unions have been trying to take the plunge for two decades. Since 2011, public servants representing 70 percent of TSA workers have been unionized, but they lack certain protections than other unionized government employees, including some collective bargaining rights. A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee returns an ID after checking it behind a plastic screen at IAH George Bush Intercontinental Airport amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Houston, Texas, U.S., July 21, 2020. REUTERS/Adrees Latif Republicans said they were reluctant to give up the great flexibility the TSA administrator currently has over the agency`s human resources management system. The announcement is the latest from the Biden administration to support workers` right to unionize and is in line with an order signed by President Joe Biden, DHS said.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the announcement “a decisive victory for tens of thousands of hard-working union members and will finally allow @TSA workers to negotiate for their future like other federal employees.” When Congress created the TSA after the September 11, 2001 attacks, TSOs were excluded from the protections that most federal employees receive. They are subject to a decision by the TSA administrator. While AFGE leaders hailed the victory, they say they intend to continue to support the bill that would move TSA workers on the front line to Title 5 “so that no future TSA administrator can reverse the progress made by Minister Mayorkas.” U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, praised DHS`s action, saying, “Frontline officials have been severely underpaid for far too long and have been deprived of basic rights in the workplace.” NEXT STORY: The military cancels short-lived IoT telework policies”This is a victory for justice and a defeat for the inexcusable history of unequal treatment. by TSOs,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. There has never been any reason to deny them the same trade union and civil servant rights as their colleagues in other agencies. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has asked the Transportation Security Administration to create a plan to improve compensation for Transportation Security Agency employees, and DHS said it will ensure TSA processes are consistent with the principles of the Merit Systems Protection Board and evaluate personnel policies such as appeal procedures for possible changes. AFGE National President Everett Kelley said members “have been fighting for nearly two decades to end the system of separate and unequal treatment.” The union added that the decision “will not only help workers by giving them more rights and better pay, but will also help reduce staff turnover so that the agency can benefit from the expertise of experienced agents.” Democratic lawmakers have long supported legislation to move TSA controllers to Title 5, a category that covers much of the federal workforce and also guarantees access to whistleblower protection and the overall salary plan. Our Standards: Thomson Reuters` Principles of Trust. . Rep.
Bennie Thompson (D-Miss), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, welcomed the decision. “I commend the Biden administration for taking decisive action to improve TSA working conditions,” Thompson said in a statement. “TSA officials on the front lines have been vastly underpaid for too long and deprived of their basic rights in the workplace. Hydrick Thomas, chair of AFGE Council 100, which represents nearly 46,000 TSA officials nationwide, said the changes should also help reduce staff turnover. WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday that 46,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials were entitled to expanded union rights and that the department would increase the salaries of front-line controllers at airports. The names of the companies and law firms listed above are automatically generated based on the text of the article. We are enhancing this feature as we continue to test and develop in beta. We appreciate comments, which you can submit via the comments tab on the right side of the page. The TSA said last month that it planned to open by 4. July, a peak travel season in the United States, hiring another 1,000 public servants after hiring 3,000 public servants since Jan.
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